Bingo boards



Jan, 22, 1957 J. F. MOORE ETAL BINGO BOARDS Filed April 15, 1955 mmvrozas f/a/ mg Afoara 51X; 45. fimsen United States Patent BINGO BOARDS James Fielding Moore and Fritz B. Hansen, Englewood, Colo.

Application April 15, 1955, Serial No. 501,526 2 Claims. (Cl. 273-135) This invention relates to a bingo board of the type illustrated in prior Patent No. 2,491,257 and in applicants pending application Serial No. 404,736, now Patent No. 2,733,067, issued January 31, 1956. Bingo boards of this type have sliding tabs positioned between a backboard and a windowed frontboard, with a finger portion on the sliding tab projecting through a horizontal slot in the front board for sliding the tab to the numerical covering and uncovering positions. After each game, the tabs must all be returned to the uncovered position, either individually by hand or by rapping the edge of the board on the table.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a bingo board of this type with a single device which will simultaneously move all of the tabs to the uncovered position when desired.

Another object of the invention is to provide a transparent sheet between the numbers and the windows to protect the numbers against defacement, the transparent sheet being connected to external means so that it may be laterally actuated to move all tabs which have been moved to a numeral-covering position to the uncovered position so that it will not be necessary to return the tabs individually by hand or to pound the board on the table.

Other objects and advantages reside in the detail construction of the invention, which is designed for simplicity, economy and efficiency. These will become more apparent from the following description.

In the following detailed description of the invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof. Like numerals refer to like parts in all views of the drawing and throughout the description.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a face view of the improved bingo board, with the various laminations thereof broken away to illustrate the interior construction;

Fig. 2 is a face view of a transparent lamination or sheet employed in the improved bingo board;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary, enlarged cross-section through the board, taken on the line 3-3, Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a similarly enlarged, vertical cross-section,

, taken on the line 4-4, Fig. 1; and

Fig. 5 is an enlarged, detail, perspective view, illustrating a type of numeral-covering tab employed with the improved board.

In the cross-sections of Fig. 3 and 4 the thickness of the board has been magnified for clarity of illustration.

The improved bingo board is built up on a relatively stiff back board 10, the front face of which is imprinted with game numerals 11 arranged in vertical columns and horizontal rows. The front face of the back board is covered by means of a front board 12 provided with a plurality of columnar and rulerly arranged window openings 15 positioned to expose the game numerals 11 on the back board 10. The front board is maintained in spaced relation to the back board by means of a bordering spacer member 13 so as to provide an open space between the front and back boards. The back board 10,

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the front board 12, and the spacer member 13 are all permanently secured together around their peripheries in any desired manner, such as by. means of a relatively heavy stitching 14.

A transparent sheet 16 formed of lumarith, Plexiglas, or similar transparent plastic material, is positioned in the open space between the back board 10 and the front board 12. The transparent sheet 16 is substantially equal in vertical width to the space between the upper and lower portions of the spacer member 13, and is relatively narrower in horizontal width than the space between the side portions of the spacer member 13so that the transparent sheet may be moved from side to side a distance substantially equal to the width of the windows 15.

The front board 12 is provided with a horizontal guide slot 17 below each of the windows 15. T he slots 17 have a length substantially equal to twice thewidth of the windows 15 and extend to one side thereofQ As illustrated, the guide slots 17 extend to the left of the wi'n-.

dows 15. They could, of course, extend to the right thereof. The transparent sheet 16 is also provided with similar and similarly spaced guide slots 15 which, when the transparent sheet 16 is moved to the fully right-hand position, as shown in Fig. 1, align with and register with the guide slots 17 in the front board 12.

A relatively thin, movable, rectangular, number-cover-v ing tab 19 is provided to close each of the windows 15. The number-covering tabs may be formed from any suitable opaque material, such as thin metal or from colored translucent plastic, and are contoured to form a transversely-extending, outwardly-projecting, finger-engaging portion 211 and a flat terminal portion 21. The finger portion 26 may be molded 0n the tab 19 if the latter is formed from plastic or similar material, or may be simply a folded and looped medial portion on the tab, such as illustrated in Fig. 5. V

One of the tabs, which will be herein designated as the fixed tab 22, is permanently secured to the medial portion of the transparent sheet16, with its finger portion 20 extending forwardly through a suitable slot in the transparent sheet 16. The fixed tab 22 may be formed on or secured to the sheet 16 in any desired manner, such as by cementing or by means of suitable attachment rivets 23. It could be attached simply by forcing its finger portion 20 through a tight-fitting slotted opening in the transparent sheet 16.

In assembling the device, the finger portion 20 of the fixed tab 22 is forced through the medial slot 17 of the front board 12. The finger portions 20 of the movable tabs 19 are now forced forwardly first through the slots 18 in the transparent sheet 16, thence through the slots 17 in the front board 12 so as to project forwardly from the latter. It is preferred to have the forward portion of each finger portion 20 of slightly greater thickness than the remainder thereof so that when these tabs are forced through the relatively pliable material of the transparent sheet 16 and the front board 12, the greater thickness terminal portion thereof will prevent them from withdrawing from the slots and will act to maintain the tabs in tight, slidable engagement with the rear face of the transparent sheet 16 to support the latter against the Windows 15.

In a conventional bingo board the middle window of the middle row of windows has no numeral and is usually designated as a free window, and is usually covered in some way by the player at the beginning of each game. With this improved board the fixed tab 22 is designed to cover the middle or free window.

At the beginning of each game the player engages the finger portion 20 of the fixed tab 22 and pushes the latter toward the right to cover the free window with the fixed tab' 22; This simultaneously forces the entire transparent sheet 16'to the right so that its slots 18 will register with the slots 17 in the front board 12.

The game is now played in the usual manner, andv the called numbers on the backboard lid are successively covered by individually slidingthe tabs 19 to the right over their respective numbers, as shown at C in vFig. 1. When. the. game is completed the player engages the finger portionZt) of the fixed tab 22 and slides it to the left in its guideslot 17 to uncover the free window. This causes the entiretransparent sheet 16 to slide to the left, sothat the termini of its slots 13 Will engage and simultaneously slide every played tab from the closed or covered position C to the open or uncovered position, indi'cated at'O in Fig. 1. The movement of allof the played-tabs to theleft'results from the fact that the slots 18 are equal in length to the'slots ll? so that when the transparent 'sheetld moves to the left, the righthand extremities of the slots 13 will engage the finger portions 20 'of 'all 'of'the' played tabs to'force them'to'the left in their-guide'slots 17.

It is'preferred to form the spacerm'em'ber '13 with'a slightly greater thickness than the combined'thick'ness of the transparent sheet 16 and the tabs 19 so that the latter are held away from the back board, as shown in Fig. 4, to prevent abrasion and wear on the game nu-. merals 11.

The various elements of the board may be formed from any suitable material and of any'desired size and thickness. can be producedby forming the members 10, .12 from cardboard having a thickness of .04"; the spacer from cardboard having a thickness of .08"; the transparent sheet from Plexiglas having a thickness of .02; and the markers from sheet metal having a thickness of .0148". The tabs are preferably black so that they will formvery evident contrast when closed, as indicated by the color lining inFig. 1. They could, however, be formed from colored translucent plastic so as'to distinctly color the covered windows, leaving the numbers visible.

While a specific form ,of the improvement has been It has been found that a very satisfactory board 4, described and illustrated herein, it is desired to be understoodthat the same may be varied, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed and desired secured by Letters Patent is:

1. In a bingo board ofnthe. type having a windowed front board with a movable tab for each Window, each of said tabs being adaptedto slide" slidewardly across its respective .window, andhaving..guidesslots-xinr said front board through which .finger. members project from said tabs for imparting sideward movement to the latter, means for allowing said tabs-to be independently moved to a window-covering position.andsimultaneously moved to a window-opening position, comprising: a transparent sheet positioned against the back of said front board, forwardly of said tabs, and covering all of said Windows, the timer members ofsaid tabs. projecting forwardly through .a second .series-offguideslots .in said shcelt,.thence through. the guide slots in said front board,.the slots said sheet beingsubstantially equal inlengthl to the length of .the slots .in saidafrontboard, and being positioned to register with the slots virrthe front board so that said I finger. members may be independently moved in .the

aligned slots of both said front. board and said sheet to a window-covering position; and. meansrfor moving said.

transparent sheet laterally to move the slots .therein'longitudinallyof .theslotsinsaidfront board so asv to.simul-,

taneously return all of'the tabs to a window-opening position...

2. Abingo boardfconstruction. as'described. in claim References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,391,520 Smith Dec. 25; 1945 Fawkes Dec. 13, 1949 

